Adama Traoré's Impressive Physique: How He Managed to Transform His Body

Adama Traoré is very fast and powerful despite his large muscular volume. We'll tell you how he's achieved the physical change he's shown in the last 7 years.

Reviewed and approved by the doctor Leonardo Biolatto.

Written by Fernando Clementin

Last update: 10 November, 2022

While watching Adama Traoré’s impressive physique on the field, it’s striking how different he is from his opponents and teammates in terms of build. As you may imagine, the impressive physique he possesses is, of course, due to focused training and diet.

The physically strongest players tend to play in defense or, failing that, as center forwards. This allows them to go forward and recover or protect the ball, as needed, without suffering the consequences.

But Traoré doesn’t play in either of these positions; he plays as a winger on the flanks. And despite his large physical frame, he’s a very unbalanced player and almost unstoppable when it comes to speed.

How did Adama Traoré achieve his impressive physique?

Genetics probably favor Adama Traoré for the physical transformation the player has undergone since his debut with FC Barcelona in 2015. Since then, he’s spent time at Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, and Wolverhampton, where his musculature increased tremendously. When he returned to Barça in 2022, he was no longer the tall, skinny youngster who had left.

Apart from genes, however, the training the player followed during this time also played a part in changing his body. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the keys that led to the impressive physique that Adama Traoré has today.

Demanding training, but without weights

In an interview, Adama Traoré said that he doesn’t work out with weights in the gym. The player explained that it’s really just his genetics makes his musculature grow the way it does.

Instead, the Spaniard appeals to training with his own body weight to improve his agility, explosiveness, and power, according to his personal physical trainer, Nacho Villalba. The predominance of white fibers in his muscles generates a greater volume without the need to do isolated work for each muscle in the gym.

One of the elements that help Adama Traoré in his workouts are the elastic bands. Although they may seem basic, these are capable of offering resistance of up to 50 kilos and are ideal for working the lower body.

He also relies on isoinertial training machines, which are equally or more demanding than traditional machines. These serve to work both muscle contraction and stretching.

In one way or another, Traoré generates enough muscle tension through exercise to cause his muscles to break fibers. These, when rebuilt after exercise, adapt to withstand these stimuli and lead to hypertrophy.

Other footballers resort to the gym

Adama Traoré’s physical training differentiates him from that of other footballers, such as Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese footballer does strength work to enhance his musculature and is one of the footballers who currently enjoys a privileged physique.

The same goes for Leon Goretzka, a German footballer who in 2020 underwent a transformation very similar to the one experienced by Traoré. All three succeeded in adapting their training routine to the particularities of their bodies to achieve their goals.

Diet can’t be missing for physical transformation

Any training that is performed, whether to gain muscle, lose weight, or tone the body, must be accompanied by a healthy diet accordingly. In the years when Traoré prioritized the development of his muscle mass, protein was the central nutrient in his diet.

This is because, as a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows, protein contributes to muscle gain when combined with appropriate training. However, carbohydrates also play a role, especially after training and matches, as they help replenish glycogen stores.

Fats are another nutrient present in Adama Traoré’s meals, as they provide energy and have important hormonal functions. Finally, supplementation is also part of his habits. This is an aspect in which the footballer must be very careful since soccer’s anti-doping rules prohibit the consumption of certain substances capable of unnaturally enhancing player’s performance.

Adama Traoré’s impressive physique works in his favor

Apart from improving his performance, having a developed musculature has “armored” Traoré against injuries. Except for a fractured metatarsal in the 2015/2016 season, the attacker hardly had two injuries that left him out of action for more than 20 days.

One of them was in 2015, and the other is more recent. Regarding the latter, it was a muscular injury in the thigh, dated July 2022.

Taking this into account and adding the power that the player demonstrates in his runs at speed, we can conclude that his physique is not a burden, but a tool for his game. Adama Traoré is, after all, another example of what training and nutrition can do to a person.